


Twenty Seconds (Of Courage)

by givebackmylifecas



Series: Quote Inspirations [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Destiel - Freeform, Domestic Fluff, First Kiss, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Post-Episode: s12e12 Stuck In The Middle (With You), Romantic Fluff, Season/Series 12 Spoilers, kale - Freeform, quote prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 02:16:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10401510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/givebackmylifecas/pseuds/givebackmylifecas
Summary: Sometimes all it takes is twenty seconds of courage, twenty seconds for Dean Winchester to get his head out of his ass and tell a certain angel how he feels about him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a quote I found on tumblr, that didn't have an author so if you know who said it, let me know. Mostly fluff, post s12, so spoilers if you haven't watched that far.  
> No trigger warnings unless you are traumatised by kale, which I completely understand.

> _“You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”_

 

Eight years. That’s how long Dean had known Castiel. And in those eight years they had been through a lot. Eight years of apocalypses, near-death situations, actual death situations, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and everything in between. Together they had faced everything from Leviathans, to vampires, to Lucifer, to God’s sister. They had hurt and disappointed each other more times than he could count and every time Dean lost Cas it hurt a little bit more.

But nothing was more painful and terrified Dean more, than watching Castiel rotting from the inside out on the floor of a barn in the middle of nowhere. Seeing the blood soaking his usually pristine white shirt, and watching Cas cough up his own melted insides damn near broke Dean. And then the angel had gone and professed his love for Dean, looking him right in the eye, until he hastily covered it up by turning to look at Sam and Mary and telling them he loved them too.

Crowley had saved Castiel just in time and Dean got to take his angel back to the bunker, but he couldn’t help feeling that Cas’ would-be dying declaration of love had irrevocably changed something in their relationship.

Dean didn’t know how to act around Castiel anymore, because even though Cas had said that he loved him, he couldn’t be sure that it was the same love that Dean felt for the angel.

Then kind of love that consumed the righteous man, leaving him longing for even the faintest of touches from the celestial being that had saved him all those years ago and continued to save him just a little bit, every time he smiled.

Dean so desperately wanted to be able to wrap his arms around Cas, pull him close and never let him go, but he was afraid. Afraid of rejection, afraid of the consequences, afraid of what it meant that he loved someone else so deeply. Since Cas hadn’t said any more on the subject, Dean was content to let his cowardice win just this once.

One day, several weeks after Cas’ brush with death at the hands of Ramiel, Dean took Cas into town to go to the farmer’s market. Sam had gone on a hunt with Eileen – Dean had grinned at how much his brother had blushed whilst explaining why he was leaving – but he was due to return that evening and had threatened Dean’s whiskey stash, if there wasn’t something green and leafy waiting for him when he got back.

While Dean concentrated on getting Sam his kale and whatever else that overgrown, salad-eating moose wanted, Cas wandered off. When Dean looked over his shoulder, expecting Cas to be waiting there for him, he nearly had a heart-attack when all he saw was empty space. He frantically spun around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Cas’ trench coat, which the angel still refused to go without. He eventually spotted him, deep in discussion with the owner of a honey stand. Dean smiled fondly at him, admiring how the sunlight reflected off his tousled dark hair, colouring it a lighter shade of brown until he was interrupted by the lady who had been wrapping up his produce for him.

“That your boyfriend over there?”, she asked with a grin, adjusting her headscarf after Dean had taken his vegetables from her.

Dean blushed, clutching Sam’s vegetables a little too tightly. “What? No. We’re not – I’m not – I mean, he’s not my boyfriend.”, he stuttered.

“But you want him to be?”, she questioned with a knowing grin.

“I… Uh…”, Dean said eloquently as the woman actually laughed at him. Then she leaned forward, beckoning for him to lean towards her.

“Shall I tell you something my grandma told me a long time ago, that has served me well all these years?”, she whispered conspiratorially. Dean shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant, but a part of him knew she saw right through that. The woman smiled and leaned in even closer. “Sometimes all it takes for something good to happen, is twenty seconds of insane courage. Take your twenty seconds and tell your man over there how you feel.”

Dean frowned at her. “Twenty seconds?”, he questioned, looking over at Cas who was now sampling the variety of honey’s that were being sold over at the other stand.

She leaned back and nodded. “That’s all it takes.”

“Huh.”, Dean said, scratching the back of his head. “Thanks I guess.”

“You’re welcome.”, the lady said, with another smile.

Dean turned away from her and started to move towards Cas, but the woman called after him. “Hey, you forgot your kale!”

Dean rolled his eyes and headed back for Sam’s vegetables.

 

It had taken Dean a good half hour to drag Cas away from the honey stand and he could only convince him after buying him his five favourite flavours, but they were finally back at the bunker. Sam had returned and they had eaten dinner with only minimal teasing on Dean’s part and a lot of bitchfaces on Sam’s. Now Dean was alone in the library with Cas watching some documentary, that the angel had chosen. Sam had gone to his room an hour ago, but Dean had barely acknowledged it, because he couldn’t stop thinking about what the kale-lady in the headscarf had said.

Twenty seconds, he thought to himself, he could be brave for twenty seconds, couldn’t he? He had certainly had to be brave for a lot longer than that before.

He glanced over at Cas, who was watching the TV screen, enraptured by the penguins that were diving off tall cliffs and into the oceans, when suddenly Cas looked over at him. Their eyes locked and Cas’ sparkling blue eyes softened as he smiled at Dean. And that expression is what gave him those twenty seconds the kale-lady had spoken of.

Dean surged forwards, pressing his lips to Cas’, who – to Dean’s great relief – responded immediately by digging his fingers into Dean’s waist and pulling himself forward until he was almost on Dean’s lap.

They broke apart when Dean needed to breathe and Cas looked at him a little stunned. “Dean?”

“Cas, I’m sorry if that’s not what you wanted, but I – I love you and I don’t think I can keep pretending that I don’t anymore.”

Cas looked at him in silence for a moment, before his face split into a huge grin. “You, Dean Winchester, are an idiot. I told you I loved you in that barn, weeks ago. But when we got back here and nothing changed, I assumed you did not reciprocate my feelings, so I decided not to do any more about it.”

“So you, you actually love me?”, Dean asked, a little in awe. Cas nodded and Dean continued. “And you want to be with me, like this?” Instead of answering, Cas leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to Dean’s. Dean kissed back enthusiastically, until he pulled away to laugh.

“Son of a bitch!”, he exclaimed. “That kale lady was right.”

“Dean, what on earth are you talking about?”, Cas asked him, but Dean just shook his head.

“Doesn’t matter angel.”, he murmured, pressing a soft kiss behind Cas’ ear. The angel shuddered with pleasure and Dean grinned. “Let’s move this to a less public area of the bunker.”

He got up, taking Cas’ hand in his, and began leading him to his bedroom, Cas following eagerly.

 

And if the next time Sam sent Dean to the market for his stupid vegetables, and Dean subtly held up his and Cas’ entwined fingers to show the lady with the headscarf and she grinned and gave him an extra helping of kale, well then that was no one’s business but Dean’s.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh look at that, my hand slipped and I wrote something fluffy.  
> Drop me a kudos or a comment if you liked this, or say hi on tumblr (@givebackmylifecas)


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